In a slap at 2000 running mate Joe Lieberman, Al Gore will go to Harlem today to throw his support behind Howard Dean for president in a bid to play kingmaker and help the Democratic front-runner wrap up the nomination fast, sources said yesterday.
The dramatic move by Gore, who, with Lieberman on his ticket, beat George Bush in the 2000 popular vote, will boost Dean with black voters and help in the pivotal Iowa caucuses – and could make him all but unstoppable.
Gore dropped out of the 2004 race a year ago, but has blasted President Bush and the Iraq war as hard as Dean has done.
Gore’s move amounts to a declaration of independence from his former boss, Bill Clinton, whose allies have given Dean the cold shoulder and said he’s too far left to win the White House. Instead, many Clintonites back Wesley Clark.
“This is the beginning of the post-Clinton era in the Democratic Party. Gore and Dean are redefining the party as anti-war and anti-Democratic establishment,” said a veteran Democratic activist.
“This new definition leaves Hillary [Clinton] out, because she voted for the [Iraq] war. If Dean doesn’t win in 2004, it’s a constituency that Gore could inherit if he wants to run in 2008 and go against Hillary.”
Lieberman, who is running against Dean, also voted for the war – and Gore’s decision to endorse Dean could be a huge blow to the Connecticut senator.
The fact that Gore is making the endorsement in Harlem could be seen as a particularly in-your-face message to the Clintons because they are now New Yorkers – and Bill Clinton’s office is in Harlem.
But a Hillary fan scoffed at the idea that her star is diminished, saying if Dean had the option, he’d prefer the endorsement of either Clinton to Gore.
Neither Clinton has endorsed anyone, but Bill Clinton has privately talked up Clark.
After a Harlem breakfast at the National Black Theater on 125th Street, Gore and Dean will fly to Iowa in a bid to defeat Rep. Dick Gephardt (Mo.) in the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses, the first presidential test.
Dean is already well ahead in New Hampshire, the second big test, with polls putting him up by 25 to 30 points.
Many analysts believe Dean will be impossible to stop if he wins Iowa and New Hampshire.
The Gore news leaked as Dean was in New York for a round of megabucks fund-raisers last night.
“I’m having a good time running for president, but I would trade it any day to have Al Gore in the White House instead of George Bush,” Dean told a crowd at Roseland. But he refused to confirm the endorsement.
Gore ran very strong among blacks, with more than 90 percent of their support, and his popularity could be a big asset for Dean, who has won only limited support from blacks, especially after talking about his eagerness to court white Southerners “with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks.”
Blacks will likely account for half the voters in the Feb. 3 Democratic primary in South Carolina, the next big test after New Hampshire.